From a human point of view, it is a somewhat "rotten" insect: about two grains of rice, dark red, long -term "hidden" in the nest, using ants " poor vision " to steal ant eggs to survive. In March of this year, it also had its own name - Zhou Chaochaoi.
Zhou Chao's horned beetle - to the worm
On closer examination, "horned beetle" is the species of the little guy, and this genus of specialized ant-inhabited horned horned nails is the largest number of species in the subfamily of horned horns, and only 11 species have been recorded in China before.
"Zhou Chao" is one of the collectors of the new species, a beetle addict, and the Chengdu "Fei Touzi" who grew up by the funan river.
In a paper published in the international taxonomic journal Zookeys, Wang Chengbin, a postdoctoral fellow in China, said that "Zhou Chao's horned aces" live in the nest of large-headed ant nests and are very rare.
As a well-known "insect fanatic" in the circle of insect lovers in Chengdu, many weekends, Zhou Chao will drive a car with he Li, a "confidante", and go to the mountains to find insects. One of them was a construction engineer and the other was an electrical engineer, and they met because of the same preferences. In the past three years, the two have climbed almost all over the mountains on the outskirts of Chengdu. At present, including the "Zhou Chao Horned Beetle", they have discovered 5 new insect species, 3 of which have been officially named and published, and 2 of which are in the process of being written.
"No matter where we go, others are looking at the scenery, but we are looking at all kinds of insects in the landscape." Because of their liking, the two folk "insect idiots" from the city park to the Longquan Mountains, from qionghai Lushan to Emei Jinding, back and forth between the city and the suburbs of the search, not for adventure and excitement, but for a wonderful life.
This kind of search allows ordinary people far away from the land to begin to re-understand this vibrant world.
The romance of the science man
Name the new species of worm after his wife
Saying that it is "worm delusional" naturally has an act of infatuation.
Zhou Chao and He Li both have freezers at home, and they use constant temperature to raise all kinds of insects brought back from the mountains around Chengdu.
He Li and his specimens
"In fact, insects have a strong ability to reproduce and survive, but only in a relatively stable and habitual environment, after bringing insects from the mountains to the city, we must be careful to wait." Which insects eat apples, which insects eat dead bark, which insects eat snails, the two big men have long known.
In addition to raising insects, thousands of insect specimens are also the "heart meat" of these two insect seekers. He Lijia specially took out a wall to place specimens. Zhou Chao's family has nearly 2,000 beetle specimens, from the size of a fist to a millimeter, "Usually after work, I am anxious to go home, and then take out all the specimens and spread them out, look carefully, especially satisfied." ”
Casually take out a box of specimens of Zhou Chao, in the newspaper-sized specimen box, according to the volume of various types of beetles, under each specimen, fingernail-sized pieces of paper record the variety, place of discovery, date.
"Hairy horn spade (Yunnan subfamily), larvae collected in Lushan Mountain, Xichang, Sichuan, harvested on March 24, 2016, feathered on July 3, 2016, collected in decaying wood at an altitude of 1700 meters." The few figures mean that this small insect, which has been completely quiet, has been kept for four months, witnessing the whole process of its larvae to pupal and then molting shell feathers, "their life is too short." ”
Some netizens have left a message for He Li, questioning whether it is too cruel to use insect needles to wear and fix small insects, in the eyes of two insect enthusiasts, such a collection is not only to record the diversity of species, but also to preserve the relevant information of species. "How many species are extinct before they are recorded. It should be known that natural history specimens are the largest source of information on the earth's biodiversity. Much of the biogeographic information and origin trajectories we know come from specimens accumulated by museums over the past two centuries. ”
Since 2014, He Li and Zhou Chao have discovered 5 new insect species in Sichuan Province, and in fact, the formal establishment of new species needs to be described in a professional journal. At present, 3 of the new species they found have been officially published, and another 2 are in the process of being written. "In fact, as the discoverers of new species of insects, the luck component is still very large, and in the whole comparison and identification of new species, those professional researchers do more homework."
Noon Su Pseudo Deer Tianniu - A History of Growth
This year's Valentine's Day, the international zoological journal Zookeys published a new species of Tianniu discovered and published by He Li online: Pseudomacrochenus Wusuae, a science man who even went abroad for honeymoon and couldn't help but cat to the park to find bugs, named this new species after his wife's name, Chen Wusu, he said, this is a gift for his wife, thanking her for her long-term understanding, support and love.
Noon Su pseudo-deer Tianniu - specimen photo (dorsal and ventral view)
Childhood curiosity
Entomologists used to dream of it as a child
The budding of interest often began by chance, and Zhou Chao remembered that when he was about seven or eight years old, his "baby" was lost.
It was 3 scarab beetles with shining "armor", they had collectively "fled", originally trapped in the downstairs flower platform of Zhou Chao's house, and were surrounded by several large stones.
At that time, Zhou Chao's family was on the south river in Chengdu Province, and there was a slowly flowing river and a large field behind the house in front of the house, the vegetation was luxuriant, the insects were chirping and cicadas were calling, and Zhou Chao's 3 "little treasures" did not know which fold in the vegetable field they hid in. When there are them, Zhou Chao feels that time is very fast, often watching them crawl around for an afternoon, without them, Zhou Chao feels that he will immediately go looking for a few more.
Children always long for nature, Zhou Chao still remembers that the yard moved from the suburbs to bring new neighbors, the family raised fish and shrimp to feed rabbits. "Super envy and adoration." Following behind the neighbor's brother, Zhou Chao climbed the elm tree to find the Tianniu, and saw the long tentacles for the first time; looking for butterflies and crickets in the ruins of the building slag, carefully placing them in the tape box; when he came home from school and passed through a ring of roadside fields, he slid down the field and turned around, dirty and went home to be pulled red ears by his mother, and there was a small worm loosely held in the middle of his black little hand...
In 3rd grade, on the banks of the Sand River. After the heavy rain, Zhou Chao's classmates picked up a beetle. "I begged him for 3 days and didn't want to give it to me, and then I was trampled to death." After a long time, Zhou Chao learned that this kind of "clamping insect" with a majestic "big pliers" and a hard "armor" was called spade armor. Perhaps it is this time that zhou chao is more interested in such insects when he grows up, and has been searching for it so far.
Curious, almost all insect lovers get started with the first step. Just when Zhou Chao wanted to have a "clamp worm", on the other side of the city, He Li sat in the back seat of his father's bicycle, excited about the insects he was about to see at the provincial exhibition hall.
"At that exhibition, I saw a lot of bugs that I had never seen before. In particular, the Great King Flower Golden Turtle from Africa is almost 15 centimeters long, which is the size of my palm! "Spreading his palms, He Li still remembers the initial shock brought to him by the magic of nature, and like Zhou Chao, He Li will go to the gardens and ruins near his home to search, raise Tianniu scarabs, and also catch geckos and four-legged snakes." There was a lizard in the house, and then it ran away, and my mother worried for a while, afraid that the lizard would suddenly appear next to my pillow. ”
Compared with zhou chao, the childhood He Li was a child with "ideas", and at the age when most children are thinking of scientists as dreams, he can further refine to become an "entomologist".
The Silent "Tinder"
After work, I discover new species and regain my love
How long can children's interests and likes last?
After graduating from primary school, Zhou Chao and He Li both entered key middle schools, and the gradual heavy academic work and the wider world gradually silenced the love for bugs, but it was still not extinguished.
On the way out to surf the Internet, Zhou Chao will pick up the scarab beetle on the side of the road and take it to the Internet café at the urging of his companions, and He Li will be in a daze for a moment at the summer insects parked on the test paper during the summer evening self-study, "The pattern on the head of this bug is quite beautiful, is it to hide itself, or to courtship?" ”
Fill in the college entrance examination volunteer, neither of them entered the biology and other related majors. "My family thinks studying insects is too cold." In fact, behind this unpopular profession in the eyes of most people is a large family in the biological world. As the most diverse and numerous animal on Earth, insect species are estimated to account for half of the biological species. But correspondingly, human understanding of insects is only a named species, about a million species.
"Looking back now, I feel lucky, and if I really made my favorite thing a career for a living, I certainly wouldn't have gained so much pure happiness." After graduating from university, He Li and Zhou Chao entered the state-owned enterprises respectively, and they often stationed in the mountain forest field construction site, and regained their young love in an environment far away from the city and close to nature.
During the beichuan project, every day under the searchlights of the construction site, various insects would gather, "because the insects are phototropic." Zhou Chao, who often squatted under the lamp to pick up bugs, simply asked the construction site security guards to help him put away the bugs, through the magnifying glass, Zhou Chao observed the metal brilliance on the beetle's wing sheath, and the slightly fluttering mouthpiece, he began to be eager to know more.
He Li, who participated in the new construction of the substation in Panzhihua, would be busy and often go to the mountain to collect insects, holding a large net of 9 meters long, and walking among the mountains and forests following the sound of cicadas. In Panzhihua, the black cicada specimen he found was transferred to Wang Xu, a doctor at Northwest A & F University, and after comparison, it was confirmed as a new species, and finally named Cicadatra hei.
Look for the beauty of life
Watch all night to witness the insects molting for a moment
"Being able to discover a new species and name it after the discoverer is the dream of almost all insect lovers." Although He Li is clear, such a process is not easy.
In order to get more data on the noon-su pseudo-deer tianniu, He Li went to the collection site three times to bring the eggs back to Chengdu and raise them in a constant temperature environment, worrying about every moment. "Estimating that it was going to molt, I set up my camera and watched all night." From the larva to the pupa, watching the pupae's scalp crack a slit, and then began to molt, He Li held his breath, as if witnessing a miracle, "Obviously tired, but sober enough to wake up the whole world." ”
In fact, as one of the countries with the largest number of insect species in the world, the industry estimates that there are 150,000 species of insects in China, of which only about half of the named species are named, which means that most of the insects are still undiscovered. Among the many species, Zhou Chao prefers spade insects, which are the "clamping insects" that he could not ask for in his childhood, and He Li prefers the Tianniu family. In order to find bugs, in the past three years, they have climbed almost all the mountains around Chengdu.
There are many ways to find insects, sometimes by lighting a lamp in the suburbs, unfolding a white cloth next to it, and using the insects' phototropism to attract them to stop on the cloth. Sometimes, you need to search through the dead wood soil where various insects are used to burrowing, and sometimes you even look for it in the livestock manure.
"Once, I was lying next to a pile of cow dung, using a pipe to open, and I was looking for it carefully, and He Li ran over and kicked me in the ass, and he told me with a smile on his face." Speaking of this, Zhou Chao paused and snorted, He Li said, the surrounding villagers were very frightened and thought I was eating. ”
More often, for these two "strange people" carrying large bags, walking and watching, and even lying on the ground covered with mud, passers-by ask the most is, "Is the boy looking for Chinese medicine?" "Oh, look for bugs, how do bugs sell?" "Not for sale? That must be eating, delicious, not? ”
"It's so angry and funny, people don't know a lot of the basics of insects." In the community of Chengdu, He Li saw a 4 or 5-year-old child full of joy and lifted the tianniu he had picked up to show his mother-in-law, who was scared and shouted, threw away the bug, grabbed it and spanked the child's ass, and angrily rebuked, "This is poisonous, touch it, bite you to death." ”
Talking about this, Zhou Chao conveniently put a hairy shovel the size of a ping-pong ball in his hand, and along the fingers, the little guy waved his big teeth and crawled slowly, Zhou Chao was not worried about being bitten, "Fear stems from the unknown." Urban children have almost lost the ability to recognize nature, in fact, to understand some common insects and characteristics, they will better get along with the environment we live in. ”
In Zhou Chao He Li's circle, there were several child enthusiasts, including a sixth-grade child, who insisted on following He Li to East Lake Park to find bugs. "But now there's basically no talking, and I think they should be like us, this love is temporarily silent, waiting for the day when it will be suddenly awakened." 」
West China Metropolis Daily- Cover News Reporter Du Jiangqian Yin Hang (Photo courtesy of interviewee)